First: I want to know the party affiliation, and working background, of the entire list of “economists”, particularly since so many on the list hale from the most liberal and Marxist bastion in the world - U.S. colleges and universities.
Second: When they say “Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses”, the composers of this sentence are intentionally trying to get you to see, in your mind, “Wall Street executives” and rich people with money (investors).
But, in reality, the bulk of the virus, the bulk of the “investors” are in your local bank, the companies in your 401k, the companies in your mutual fund, your insurance company, you or your employers pension plans, etc. etc. etc. So, apparently, these “economists” don’t think that every form of your savings and investment should be helped out; just devalued.
Me thinks this group of “economists” have a non-economic agenda.
And those 401Ks that are denominated in dollars, they'll hold up great too??
Lots of people from Chicago school of Economics which is the most pro-market school there is from what I know. In general the list of names is very impressive. Some are business school finance guys, many general economists. I am not expert unfortunately my knowledge of the subject is limited to half undergraduate degree in Economics.
BTW it does not matter who made investment, you play the game you got pay the price.
This bail out is looking like a terrible mistake. I think Bush is scared about his “legacy” so he had this knee jerk reaction and with election coming up I am afraid the populist short term approach will prevail. This is something that our grand kids kids will be still paying for
“Me thinks this group of ‘economists’ have a non-economic agenda.”
Think again. Surely, these economists may be socialists (most professors are), but the socialist solution to this problem would be to pump more money into the system. Opposing the bailout and letting bad investments liquidate themselves is the most “free market” thing you can do. This point, especially, underlines their point:
“Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America’s dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.”
Causing the currency to collapse through inaction would be disastrous. However, there is no guarantee that this particular bailout plan will save anything. What good would buying mortgages up above market value do when there is nothing to stop another false boom from revisiting us in a few years?
There are many econonomists from the University of Chicago on this list-both in Economics Department and the Business School. They most likely oppose this bailout since it was government policies that led to the problem in the first place.